IMAGO explores the various contexts in which images “speak” about our relationship to the divine and to each other. The project examines how images circulate as metaphors and symbols and what messages they convey across religious, cultural, and linguistic boundaries. The interdisciplinary research covers areas of biblical and patristic literature, the history of Christianity, iconography and art, rituals and liturgical celebrations, the philosophical influence and reception of images, and their impact in modern society.

Topics 

The conference will focus on body-related images. We welcome papers that investigate the following topics:

• Theories and methods for exploring body images (including metaphor, simile, symbol, imagery, allegory, and typology)
• Body (and soul) and embodied experiences in the Bible and Antiquity, as well as their later reception, for example in Byzantine or in modern theology 
• Reception of biblical images in literary sources and in art 
• Images related to physiology (e.g., eating, drinking, breathing, hearing, seeing, moving, etc.), emotions, and bodily activities (occupations)
• Functionality of body imagery in communication
• Networks and associations of body images with other domains (e.g., seeing – light – sun; mouth – singing – music)

Venue

The conference will be held from June 4-7, 2026, at the Hotel Împăratul Romanilor in Sibiu, Romania. https://sibiu.imparatulromanilor.ro/

Program 

More information about the conference program will be announced soon

Abstract submission

Please send the title, an abstract (100-150 words) of your paper and your affiliation details by March 31, 2026 at conf.imago@ulbsibiu.ro.